Ephraim is joined to idols. Leave him alone!
Parallel translations
- KJV Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.
- BSB Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone!
- NKJV “Ephraim is joined to idols, Let him alone.
- NASB Ephraim is allied with idols; Leave him alone.
- NLT Leave Israel alone, because she is married to idolatry.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Ephraim is so wedded to idols that God says, 'Leave him alone.' Persistent rebellion can lead to being given over to its consequences.
Overview
Ephraim, representing the northern kingdom, has bound itself to idols so firmly that God issues a sobering command to leave it to its chosen path. This is among the most fearful expressions of divine judgment, where God hands a people over to the sin they refuse to release. The verse warns that obstinate idolatry can harden into a state where God withdraws His restraining hand, a danger echoed in the New Testament's warnings about being given over to sin.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Ps 81:12So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, that they might walk in their own counsels.
- Rev 22:11He who acts unjustly, let him act unjustly still. He who is filthy, let him be filthy still. He who is righteous, let him do righteousness still. He who is holy, let him be holy still.”
- Hos 4:4“Yet let no man bring a charge, neither let any man accuse; For your people are like those who bring charges against a priest.
- Hos 13:2Now they sin more and more, and have made themselves molten images of their silver, even idols according to their own understanding, all of them the work of the craftsmen. They say of them, ‘They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calves.’
- Hos 11:2They called to them, so they went from them. They sacrificed to the Baals, and burned incense to engraved images.
- Matt 15:14Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
- Hos 12:1Ephraim feeds on wind, and chases the east wind. He continually multiplies lies and desolation. They make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried into Egypt.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
God's relentless love for an unfaithful bride dramatizes the gospel: 'Out of Egypt I called my son' is fulfilled in Jesus, who redeems an adulterous people at his own cost.
How Hosea 4:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.